Norland moves with the times as stately home goes up for sale

THE romantic image of the well-starched, well-bred young Norland nurses learning their child care skills in the bucolic surroundings of a stately pile is to become a thing of the past.

Norland College has announced that its home of 35 years, Denford Park, is up for sale at £5-6 million. "The college has realised that staying in a grand house is not very 21st-century and they want to find a purpose-built home," said Richard Denny of Cluttons, who is handling the sale.

Denford Park, near Hungerford in Berkshire, is a huge, 60,000 sq ft, 19th-century house, built by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville in the last gasp of neo-classical style for the Cherry Garrard family.

It was the home, in the early 20th century, to Apsley Cherry Garrard, the Antarctic explorer whose experiences with Scott's ill-fated expedition are documented in his book The Worst Journey in the World.

By the Second World War it had fallen out of private use and become a convent. It later became a school and, in 1967, the Norland College relocated there from more modest quarters in Chislehurst, Kent.

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"The situation is beautiful, the house is lovely but it isn't really suited to the students' needs," said Kay Crosse, the Norland principal, who hopes to find a more urban site.

The move is another sign that the college wishes to overhaul its somewhat fusty image. It is perhaps most famous for its uniform of beige frock, brown felt hat and obligatory white gloves that makes its students look like a cross between Mary Poppins and a 1930s ward sister.

In recent years a more practical, everyday uniform has been introduced (although the traditional outfit is still used for formal occasions) and Norland's first male pupil was admitted in 1998.

Nevertheless, the college has traded on its adherence to tradition, with its 85 pupils willing to pay £24,000 for a two-year course in the hope that a well-heeled family will, in turn, pay them upwards of £25,000 a year on graduation.

While the marketability of the Norland nurses' skills are not in question, quite who will want to buy the property is more difficult to imagine.

Although the setting of Denford Park is idyllic - it sits in 130 acres of private grounds in one of the most sought-after areas in the country - the main house has been heavily institutionalised and its extensions are somewhat brutal.

There are several cottages in the grounds as well as a purpose-built dormitory for the many residential students.

"With careful use of the bulldozer, one could make a very nice private home of a more manageable size," said Mr Denny. "The original core of the building is very good and I would like to see it sold to a private individual."

Locals will be sorry to see the college leave its present site; many families in the area benefit from the students providing baby-sitting at very low rates as part of their work experience.